The Armful

For every parcel I stoop down to seize I lose some other off my arms and knees, And the whole pile is slipping, bottles, buns — Extremes too hard to comprehend at once, Yet nothing I should care to leave behind. With all I have to hold with hand and mind And heart, if need be, I will do my best To keep their building balanced at my breast. I crouch down to prevent them as they fall; Then sit down in the middle of them all. I had to drop the armful in the road And try to stack them in a better load.

Robert Frost

I love it when you come across a poem that expresses exactly how you feel at that moment. I found Robert Frost’s take on feeling rather overloaded today, and it sums up the state of my mind perfectly. Time for another holiday, clearly! – Rachel

Aged admirer of Robert Frost that I am, this is one of his poems I have not ever read! Thank you for this, Rachel. It is a good reminder that not all of his poetry has to do with nature and tress and such and that I need to dig a bit deeper now and then – and it is a reminder to me that I sometimes need to take my worries and “try to stack them in a better load”.